If you sell directly to consumers, one great way to get people engaged with your business on Facebook is to offer them a sales incentive. Giveaways and coupons are one of the most effective ways to get people excited about making purchases and signing up for your services. This tip is one of four and comes from our The Photographer’s Guide to Facebook, which you can download here.

Tip #4: Offer Giveaways and Coupons

Surprise your Facebook Followers – John Keatley

1. Think about what day of the week and time of day you want to promote your giveaway.

The best time to post is the time your audience is online, and this will differ from photographer to photographer. The “posts” tab available in your own Facebook Insights has an option to see exactly when most of your fans are online. Check out this article, FAQ: What’s the Best Time To Post On Facebook?, for more information about relying on your page’s own data to inform you of what day and time you should post your promotions (or posts in general).

2. Map out your calendar and note major holidays, events, or personal mile-markers that happen throughout the year.

Brainstorm all occasions from New Years to Thanksgiving to the Valentine’s Day to the Olympics. How can you brand your sales discount to sync up with relevant upcoming events? Facebook puts greater weight on content that’s relevant or newsworthy, so attaching a promotion to these occasions will likely increase your posts’ exposure. Also think through how you can surprise and delight your Facebook fans with free stuff. See this great example from advertising photographer John Keatley.

3. Experiment

For any giveaways or coupons you promote, we also suggest you try the option to “Boost Post”, which is a choice on the bottom right hand corner of every post you share. Experiment by spending $5 on your next post and see if your likes, comments, and shares increase.

Overview

Running a discount for a limited time can be a great way to create buzz and draw in customers. Do you want to offer a special 20% off holiday print sale during the first two weeks of December? 30% off for New Year’s Day? What about 15% off your products to the first 10 people who share your post? There’s lots of room to get creative. To run a promotion, Facebook also has specific Promotion Guidelines which let you know what you can and cannot do. Those are important to check out before you get started.

While directly offering products and services for sale can be an effective way to convert Facebook visitors into paying customers, this strategy should be handled with tact. Social media is intended to be a two way dialogue, and regularly screaming “Buy my photos!”, even at a discount, will turn people off fast. However, people do know that this is a hub for your business, so they should expect some level of promotion, which you should take advantage of.

If you first build trust and credibility by participating and listening, and adding value, your followers will even appreciate some self-promotion on your end—especially if they have an affinity for the brand you’ve created. The common rule of thumb? You should promote your sales and services about 10% of the time. That’s 1 out of every 10 posts.

Download The Photographer’s Guide to Facebook for more detailed tips and tricks today!